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N0. 6l5,708. Patented Dec. l3, I898. C. B. HOWARD.

RAND FORMING MACHINE. 7 (Application filed Feb. 23, 1897.) (No Model.)

NiTnD STATES PATENT Fries.

CHARLES B. HOl/VARD, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS, TO THE J. B. BENTON COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

RAND-FORMING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 615,708, dated December13, 1898.

Application filed February 23, 1897. Serialv No. 624,671. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, CHARLES B. HOWARD,OfLynn, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Rands for Boots or Shoes andApparatus for Forming the Same, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention has relation to machines or devices for forming rands forboots or shoes. Rands are generally cut from a strip of leather by onemachine and subsequently crimped upon another machine or by another partof the same machine. A piece of damp leather is fed to the action of twoknives by a pair of toothed wheels, theknives being so arranged thateach time the piece is passed between the wheels a narrow strip issevered from the main piece by the transverse knife, and the strip isdivided longitudinally into two prism-shaped strips by thediagonallyarranged knife. One of the prism-shaped strips is necessarilyindented on the grain side by one of the toothed feeding-wheels and theother is correspondingly indented on the flesh side by the other roll.The coacting feeding-rolls of the machine are generally so arranged thattheindentations formed thereby in the rand strips or blanks extendentirelyso permanently formed therein that it is im-- possible to polishor treat the rand in finishing the boot or shoe so as to entirely removethem. Even where the rand when placed upon the sole has been subjectedto many tons of pressure in a leveling or pressing machine theindentations sometimes still remain.

Therefore the object of the invention is to provide such improvements inthe machines employed for forming the rands that the toothed or crimpingparts of the same will act upon the rand so as to indent or flute only aportion of the face of the same and leave the outer or thicker edgeunindented and perfectly smooth, as above described.

To these ends the invention consists of the improvements, all asillustrated upon the drawings and now tobe described in detail, andpointed out in the claim hereunto annexed.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a machine whichsevers the rands from a large piece of leather and which indents thefaces of the two prism-shaped strips which are formed of the singlestrip which is severed from the main body of the leather. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the coacting indenting and feeding rolls. Fig. 3 is afront elevation of the same, also showing the knife which severs thestrip from which the rands are formed from the main body of the piece ofleather. Fig. 4 shows in front elevation a portion of an indenting rollor wheel as previously constructed. Fig. 5 illustrates apartially-finished indented strip which is afterward crimped by thecrimping machine. Fig. 6 is a perspective view illustrating how thesingle strip which is severed by the vertical knife is out diagonally.to form two rand figures. Fig. 7 illustrates the rand blank when passedthrough myimproved machine.

Referring to the drawings, the machine shown is provided with a frame a,upon which are mounted a vertically arranged knifeblade I) and aninclined knife-blade c. A pairof toothed feeding-rolls cl c are suitablyjournaled upon the frame, one of them being driven by the belt-wheel fand the other being mounted in a spring-held bearing, whereby when apiece of leather is fed between the rolls they force it against theknives Z) and c in such a way as to sever first a strip 2 (see Fig. 6)from the main piece of leather and then divide the strip into twoprism-shaped strips or rand-blanks 3 and 4, as also illustrated in thelast-mentioned figure, there be ing a guide a to properly guide theleather through the rolls. As far as described the machine is nodifferent from that as heretofore constructed.

The feeding-wheel (Z is mounted upon .a shaft (Z and is formed in itsperiphery with teeth (1 and with a smooth cylindrical portion (1", whichis slightly less in diameter than the diameter of the pitch-circle ofthe teeth (Z so that the said teeth project radially and slightly beyondthe cylindrical portion 61 of the wheel or roll.

The lower wheel 6 is mounted on the shaft (2 and is formed with teeth 6arranged below the cylindrical portion d of the roll or wheel (Z andoverlapping to a considerable extent the teeth (Z of the last-mentionedroll, so as to grip the strip 2 positively between two sets of teeth inacentrally longitudinal line. The said roll a is also formed with areduced longitudinal portion e on which is placed a smooth ring 6secured to the face of the wheel by screws The said ring 6 is slightlyless in diameter than the diameter of the pitchcircle of the teeth e sothat the said teeth project slightly beyond the periphery of the saidring in the same way that the teeth d project beyond the periphery ofthe cylindrical portion (1 of the roll or wheel (1.

e is a collar secured to the outer face of the roll or wheel 6, so as toform between it and the roll or wheel a circumferential groove toreceive the vertical severing-knife b, as shown in Fig. The ring 6 is,to all intents and purposes, a portion of the Wheel or roll e, and thesaid rolls are arranged so that the cylindrical portions (2 and e of thetwo coacting rolls are in different transverse planes.

Now it will be seen that when the strip 2 is passed between the rollsthe blank will have a series of small indentations 5 at its thinner edgeand a smooth unindented portion at its outer or thicker edge, while theblank 3 will have the indentations 7 and the smooth portion 8 on itsopposite face.

I do not herein claim the improved rand, as it forms the subject-matterof a copending application.

Having thus explained the nature of the illvention and described a wayof constructing and using the same, although without attempting to setforth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes ofits use, I declare that what I claim is A machine for formingrand-blanks having two coacting feeding-rolls, said rolls being formedwith teeth and with smooth peripheral surfaces, the teeth of one rollbeing opposite the smooth peripheral surface of the other roll, and theteeth of each roll projecting radially beyond its smooth peripheralsurface.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, this 17th day of February, A. D.1897.

CHARLES E. IIOIVARD.

Witnesses:

MARIE M. MoELHIN-NEY, ESTHER M. NELSON.

